SHOTSMAG CONFIDENTIAL |
| Could You Commit a Murder? by Lauren North Posted: 30 Sep 2021 01:00 AM PDT  For the vast majority of us the answer to this question is of course NO! And yet we never really know how we're going to react when we find ourselves in the worst moments of our lives, do we? Just for a minute, imagine the scenario – your boyfriend of seven years is going to propose. You've seen the ring hidden in his sock drawer. A big fat diamond you can't wait for people to see on your finger. He's been acting quiet and secretive for weeks. And so when he suggests you take a day off work and a walk along the remote cliff tops you both love so much, you know what's coming. You're so sure in fact that you let slip to your friends, revelling in the excited squeals over bottles of Prosecco on a Friday night. Your mum is already scrolling Google for suitable wedding venues and has a bottle of champagne hidden in the back of her fridge for when you stop by afterwards to show off the ring. The day arrives and it's overcast, the path along the cliff top blustery and deserted, and when you reach the spot where you shared your very first kiss together, and your boyfriend stops and turns to take in the views of the steal-grey sea and distant ships, you know the moment has come at last. All those years of patience, all those times sat on hard wooden pews watching your friends say, 'I do' and pretending not to mind, and finally it's here – your turn. You can't stop the smile stretching across your face as he turns to you, eyes wide with emotion. But then it all goes wrong. The words that leave his mouth, aren't, 'will you marry me?' they're, 'I'm sorry, it's over.' He's in love with someone else. He's going to propose to someone else. The big fat diamond you found in the sock drawer is for someone else. The rage is hot and quick, scorching through your blood. You feel the humiliation burn on your face. All the friends you'll have to tell, your family too. All those looks of pity from your smug married friends. Oh how wrong you got it. He must see something in your face because he takes a step back, and suddenly he's close to the edge of the cliff and there's no one else for miles, and you see in that moment of blinding fury another story. Not the jilted girlfriend, but the grieving fiancée, an unspeakable tragedy after a proposal. Who would know? And all it would take is one shove, one burst of that anger pumping through you. Are you still sure you're not capable of murder? Perhaps your answer is still no, and that's fair enough. But maybe we all have a button somewhere deep inside us, a situation where we'll find ourselves crossing that line. And let's not forget that I haven't even mentioned children yet – that fierce love we have for them, and how far we'd go to protect them. It really is impossible to know how anyone will react when their worst moment happens. And there lies the beauty of psychology and the enduring popularity of psychological thrillers. Authors who take the ordinary people, the loving girlfriend, the two point four, the relatable, and throw them into the unimaginable. As an author, I'm no different. In my latest novel Safe At Home, anxious mother, Anna, leaves her 11-year old child home alone. Why? Because at some point we have to take that step, we have to give that independence, and it's only twenty minutes and the village really is very safe. But twenty minutes becomes five hours when a lorry turns over on the road ahead of Anna and she's stuck. It's all so easy to imagine, isn't it? And now as the author I take it one step further and something terrible happens to Anna's daughter in that time. There's mud on the kitchen floor. Someone has been in the house. But Anna's daughter won't say a word. So just how far will Anna have to go to find the truth and keep her daughter safe? How far would you go? Thankfully, those worst moments, that line we never want to cross, is a rare thing indeed, which is another reason why so many readers are drawn into the fictional worlds of psychological thrillers and their characters just like us.  Safe At Home by Lauren North (Transworld Publishers) Out Now. What if you left your child alone, and something terrible happened? Anna James is an anxious mother. So when she has to leave eleven-year-old Harrie home alone one evening, she can't stop worrying about her daughter. But nothing bad ever happens in the sleepy village of Barton St Martin. Except something goes wrong that night, and Anna returns to find Harrie with bruises she won't explain. The next morning a local businessman is reported missing and the village is sparking with gossip. Anna is convinced there's a connection and that Harrie is in trouble. But how can she protect her daughter if she doesn't know where the danger is coming from? You can find more information about her and her books on her website and you can also follow her on Twitter @Lauren_C_North  |
| Petrona Award 2021 Shortlist is announced Posted: 30 Sep 2021 12:01 AM PDT
 Outstanding crime fiction from Iceland, Norway and Sweden shortlisted for the 2021 Petrona Award Six outstanding crime novels from Iceland, Norway and Sweden have been shortlisted for the 2021 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year. The shortlist is announced today, Thursday 30 September. A NECESSARY DEATH by Anne Holt, tr. Anne Bruce (Corvus; Norway) DEATH DESERVED by Jørn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger, tr. Anne Bruce (Orenda Books; Norway) THE SECRET LIFE OF MR. ROOS by Håkan Nesser, tr. Sarah Death (Mantle; Sweden) TO COOK A BEAR by Mikael Niemi, tr. Deborah Bragan-Turner (MacLehose Press; Sweden) THE SEVEN DOORS by Agnes Ravatn, tr. Rosie Hedger (Orenda Books; Norway) GALLOWS ROCK by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, tr. Victoria Cribb (Hodder & Stoughton; Iceland) The winning title, usually announced at the international crime fiction convention CrimeFest, will now be announced on Thursday 4 November 2021. The winning author and the translator of the winning title will both receive a cash prize, and the winning author will receive a full pass to and a guaranteed panel at CrimeFest 2022. The Petrona Award is open to crime fiction in translation, either written by a Scandinavian author or set in Scandinavia, and published in the UK in the previous calendar year.The Petrona team would like to thank our sponsor, David Hicks, for his continued generous support of the Petrona Award. We would also like to thank Jake Kerridge for being a guest judge last year. We are delighted to welcome new judge Ewa Sherman to the Petrona Team. Ewa is a translator and writer. She blogs at NORDIC LIGHTHOUSE, is a regular contributor to CRIME REVIEW, and volunteers at crime fiction festivals in Reykjavik, Bristol and Newcastle.  The judges' comments on each of the shortlisted titles: A NECESSARY DEATH by Anne Holt, tr. Anne Bruce (Corvus; Norway) Anne Holt, according to Jo Nesbø, is the 'godmother of modern Norwegian crime fiction'. Best known for her 'Hanne Wilhelmsen' and 'Vik/Stubø' series (the inspiration for TV drama Modus), she also served as Norway's Minister for Justice in the 1990s. A Necessary Death is the second in Holt's 'Selma Falck' series, whose eponymous protagonist is a high-flying lawyer brought low by her gambling addiction. The novel shows Falck resisting an attempt to kill her: on waking in a burning cabin in a remote, sub-zero wilderness, she has to figure out how to survive, while desperately trying to remember how she got there. A pacy, absorbing thriller with a gutsy, complex main character. DEATH DESERVED by Jørn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger, tr. Anne Bruce (Orenda Books; Norway) Death Deserved marks the beginning of an exciting collaboration between two of Norway's most successful crime authors. Thomas Enger and Jørn Lier Horst are both already well known for their long-running 'Henning Juul' and 'William Wisting' series. Death Deserved, in which a serial killer targets well-known personalities, mines each writer's area of expertise: the portrayal of detective Alexander Blix draws on Horst's former career as a policeman, while Enger brings his professional knowledge of the media to the depiction of journalist Emma Ramm. The novel expertly fuses the writers' individual styles, while showcasing their joint talent for writing credible and engaging characters, and creating a fast-paced, exciting plot. THE SECRET LIFE OF MR. ROOS by Håkan Nesser, tr. Sarah Death (Mantle; Sweden) Håkan Nesser, one of Sweden's most popular crime writers, is internationally known for his 'Van Veeteren' and 'Inspector Barbarotti' series. The Secret Life of Mr. Roos is the third in a quintet featuring Gunnar Barbarotti, a Swedish policeman of Italian descent, who is a complex yet ethically grounded figure. His relatively late appearance in the novel creates space for the portrayal of an unlikely friendship between Mr. Roos, a jaded, middle-aged man who has unexpectedly won the lottery, and Anna, a young, recovering drug addict of Polish origin, who is on the run. Slow-burning literary suspense is leavened with a dry sense of humour, philosophical musings, and compassion for individuals in difficult circumstances. TO COOK A BEAR by Mikael Niemi, tr. Deborah Bragan-Turner (MacLehose Press; Sweden) Mikael Niemi grew up in the northernmost part of Sweden, and this forms the setting for his historical crime novel To Cook a Bear. It's 1852: Revivalist preacher Lars Levi Læstadius and Jussi, a young Sami boy he has rescued from destitution, go on long botanical treks that hone their observational skills. When a milkmaid goes missing deep in the forest, the locals suspect a predatory bear, but Læstadius and Jussi find clues using early forensic techniques that point to a far worse killer. Niemi's eloquent depiction of this unforgiving but beautiful landscape, and the metaphysical musings of Læstadius on art, literature and education truly set this novel apart. THE SEVEN DOORS by Agnes Ravatn, tr. Rosie Hedger (Orenda Books; Norway) Agnes Ravatn's The Seven Doors has shades of Patricia Highsmith about it: a deliciously dark psychological thriller that lifts the lid on middle-class hypocrisy. When Ingeborg, the daughter of university professor Nina and hospital consultant Mads, insists on viewing a house that her parents rent out, she unwittingly sets off a grim chain of events. Within a few days, tenant Mari Nilson has gone missing, and when Nina starts to investigate her disappearance and past life as a musician, worrying truths begin to emerge. A novel about gender, power and self-deception, expertly spiced with Freud and Bluebeard, The Seven Doors delivers an ending that lingers in the mind. GALLOWS ROCK by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, tr. Victoria Cribb (Hodder & Stoughton; Iceland) Gallows Rock is the fourth in Yrsa Sigurðardóttir's 'Children's House' series, featuring child psychologist Freyja and police detective Huldar as a reluctant investigative duo. Their relationship provides readers with some lighter moments and occasional black humour, along with a frisson of mutual attraction. The novel's intricate plot focuses on skewed morals and revenge: what begins as a ritualistic murder at an ancient execution site in the lava fields – the Gallows Rock of the title – leads to the unearthing of a case of long-term abuse, whose devastating impact is sensitively explored. The author won the 2015 Petrona Award for The Silence of the Sea. The judges Jackie Farrant – Crime fiction expert and creator of RAVEN CRIME READS; bookseller for twenty years and a Regional Commercial Manager for a major book chain in the UK. Dr. Kat Hall – Translator and editor; Honorary Research Associate at Swansea University; international crime fiction reviewer at MRS. PEABODY INVESTIGATES. Ewa Sherman – Translator and writer; blogger at NORDIC LIGHTHOUSE; regular contributor to CRIME REVIEW; volunteer at crime fiction festivals in Reykjavik, Bristol and Newcastle. Award administrator Karen Meek – owner of the EURO CRIME website; reviewer, former CWA judge for the International Dagger, and Library Assistant. Further information can be found on the Petrona Award website: http://www.petronaaward.co.uk. Images of the Petrona Award logo and the shortlisted titles are available (from 8.00am) at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/swanseauniversity/sets/72157651434095286 (copy & paste link into browser)  |
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